The 5 Koshas Explained (Through the Eyes of Harry Potter) — Yoga Trail Talks

All it takes is a few bars of the theme song to bring me back to that magical feeling of watching the Harry Potter movie for the first time. I can close my eyes and just feel it. It’s as if something deep within my internal networks has just been pulled. Ahh…

According to ancient yogic texts, this internal network and the subtle pulls exerted on it are the 5 koshas. If the pull is emotional, it is part of the farmer killer.

I decided to read the Harry Potter book series aloud to my daughter, which then added another layer of network within the two of us. We read, talked and learned new words for this new world. This intellectual layer of network, vijnanamaya-koshathey attract him when I go on a hike and talk to my daughter (now in college). “This girl on my floor reminds me of book 3 when…”

But what I liked most about reading the book series aloud was the space we created. For over a year, the business of the day would pause while we sat in bed and simply read. Time slowed, thoughts of the day forced to float away for a moment. (Have you ever tried reading aloud with your mind full of worldly concerns? It doesn’t work.) That peaceful space is also a deep network within me: in anandamaya-ko. And I got a double layer. As soon as I finished reading the series to one daughter, the next one was already ready with book 1 on her bed. If I need to find my “happy place,” I pull on that net and find that quiet bed.

Going to the Harry Potter theme park added another layer of networking. Inside me now is the smell of butterbeer, the taste of all-flavored jelly beans, the feeling of the 4-D broom ride. (What a thrill!) Annamaya-kosha It is what yoga calls the network of physical senses.

It is certainly not necessary for everything in our lives to be so intertwined. We can have a very valuable experience with only one of the koshas at a time. When I climb a challenging hill, I add to my network of pranamaya-koshathe breath/energy/health network. It is a film that I value very much. But still, there is something to be said for having some things in our lives, like Harry Potter, that intertwine several of our koshas.

A couple of students from our local university started an interactive yarn art in the middle of campus. They made an igloo out of thin, wobbly wire and began weaving it with a few pieces of thread. Students of all majors began adding their leftover thread to the straps. After a while, years actually, the structure was such a strong, crazy, colorful interweaving that the thin, wobbly cable was no longer necessary. It stood on its own. A great crazy and beautiful intertwining.

I think that’s what I want from my koshas. I think that’s what I want from my life! A great crazy and beautiful intertwining.

Until next time,

Laura

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